With recent orbit data from this morning, based on TIRA radar measurements and GOCE satellite-to-satellite tracking, augmented with orbit data from international partners of the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC), the re-entry of the satellite can be predicted with an accuracy of about plus or minus 2 orbits.

GOCE takes about 90 minutes to complete one orbit, so the re-entry estimate covers almost 4 orbits when it could come down. GOCE is in a polar orbit, so its orbits eventually take it over Earth’s entire surface. But the 4 possible last orbits don’t happen to be over Europe (see article). 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered by water, so most of the debris that makes it to the surface will likely land in the ocean.

For those in the U.S. here are the times for the predicted re-entry window:
Eastern Time, Sun 1:30 pm – 7:00 pm
Central Time, Sun 12:30 pm – 6:00 pm
Pacific Time, Sun 10:30 am – 4:00 pm